OCHA Situation Report No. 38
Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis
7 July 2008


Source:
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SITUATION OVERVIEW

1. An estimated 2.4 million people were severely affected by Cyclone 
Nargis, equivalent to more than one third of the population of 7.3 million 
in the affected townships.

UPDATE ON VISAS

2. Since 20 June, all applications for visas and visa-extensions have been 
processed by the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) mechanism, through the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). During the past five weeks, the TCG, 
through MOFA, have approved more than 400 visas for internationals from 
the UN, INGOs, Inter-governmental organizations, and IFRC/ICRC working on 
the response to Cyclone Nargis.

As of 7 July, 317 visas have been approved for UN staff, with 13 requests 
pending. Visas are now issued within 2-3 days of the application being 
sent to the TCG. The majority of visas are given as single-entry visas 
with an initial duration of 2 weeks. Single-entry visa-extensions are then 
granted, upon application, when the staff is in-country.

The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement are handling all 
requests for travel to the areas affected by cyclone Nargis for 
international staff. The average processing-time for such requests are 4-5 
days. More than 270 international UN staff and at least as many 
international staff from NGOs have travelled to affected areas as of 7 
July.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

3. The following information is provided by the clusters, which meet 
regularly to coordinate the humanitarian response of national and 
international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and UN agencies. 
More detailed information on cluster activities is available at: 
http://myanmar.humanitarianinfo.org

4. NUTRITION

Needs Assessment and Analysis

- The prevalence of 'at-risk' children (6-59 months) is reported the 
highest, with 34%, in Pyapon district.

- The nutrition cluster has agreed on five key indicators to monitor 
response - percentage of estimated children aged 6-59 months receiving 
Vitamin A supplementation in the last six months; estimated percentage of 
children under five years of age having acute malnutrition; estimated 
percentage of children under five years of age in 'at-risk' category; 
number of children under five years of age and pregnant/lactating women 
receiving therapeutic/supplementary feeding; and number of materials 
distributed/eligible women educated on infant feeding.

Overall Achievements

- Micronutrient supplementation and identification/management of acute 
malnutrition is ongoing, utilizing existing State and NGO structures and 
mechanisms.

- More than 200 tons of ready-to-use therapeutic food has been distributed 
by UNICEF to partners.

- Four hospital-based therapeutic units have been established by the 
Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with UNICEF.

- Standards for management of acute malnutrition, recommendations for 
Infant Feeding in Emergency and National Guidelines related to 
micronutrient supplementation have been compiled, finalized and widely 
circulated.

Challenges

- Population movement hinders targeted response planning.

- Better coordination and information management at township level are 
needed for micro-planning.

Gaps and Future Planning

- More outreach services are needed for the most affected areas at 
village/community level.

- Community-based nutrition centres need to be backed up by hospital 
nutrition units to treat severely malnourished children with 
complications.

Attachments:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&docid=0D0865F819E83A788525747F00669F76&file=Full_Report.pdf


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